Analysis Of Free Speech, Football And Freedom

“Free Speech, Football, and Freedom: Why the NFL Should Not Compel Its Players to Speak to the Media”, by Sohil Shah, with his J.D for Emory University of Law and his B.A, from Northwestern University. This article was written and published in the fall of 2014, in the Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Laws. In Shah’s article he argues how the NFL forces players to talk to the media are a due-process violations of the First Amendment right of freedom of speech and how he does not believe that the NFL should make players talk to the media if they do not want to. Therefore, with his article being an argumentative essay, Shah also provides actual court cases to support his. One case which involved Seattle Seahawk’s running back, Marshawn Lynch,

Although the article is long, it’s organized very well for the intended audience. This article gives labels, well-shaped outline, type of language, statistics, as well as references, which is expected in an argumentative article with an intended audience with a high level of education. Shah labels each section based on what will be discussed in that section, labeled with roman numerals. At the beginning Shah gives an outline of what the intended audience will be reading. It helps the audience have a general idea of what he/she should expect when reading. The type of language use in his article is for more experienced readers, such as, lawyers and sport industry students. Words like “municipality”, “entwinement”, and “entanglement”, are advanced vocabulary words that most lawyers would expect in an argumentative essay. Shah also included statistics and court cases that involve the funding of the NFL. Such as, where the money that comes from fining athletes is being used for and money raised from games and etc. Finally, containing references labeled with numbers in order, at the bottom of pages one through seven, it allows the author to cite phrases and quotes used throughout the article. As well as giving the audience more sources related to his

One of the main ones was with Marshawn Lynch, when the NFL forced him to speak with the media after refusing to talk to the media the entire previous year, which he was actually fined $50,000 for not talking. After that Lynch had two options which were, talk with the media or be fined another $50,000. Shah used the NFL policy which stated that players must speak with the media after games, but to support his argument he included the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Statistics were brought into play when Shah stated, “The NFL can be considered a state actor under the entanglement-entwinement exception to the state-action doctrine for a variety of reasons.” (46) Therefore, by being funded by the government, they have to abide by the rules of the government, and which they are not because the First Amendment states that everyone has a right to freedom of speech. And it is necessary because the government is a state actor. So, with statistics about Lynch and different cases it helps lawyers support their beliefs on the NFL policies whether or not if they were to have court cases themselves on topics related to